It’s no secret that technology is quickly outrunning the generation trying to use it. More and more, it seems that every device or gadget has features and functions on it that I either completely ignore or can’t understand. I recently spoke to someone who was using a landline and she explained that she’s never had a cell phone and never plans to. I kind of miss those days. Don’t get me wrong, I love my smart phone and I wouldn’t see myself going without it. As a family man with responsibilities, it’s a great tool for managing my daily tasks.
One area where technology keeps moving ahead is with personal vehicles. I remember that my first car was an early 80’s Toyota hatchback, 3-speed transmission with only one side mirror and it didn’t even have a tape deck! Radio only. I absolutely loved that car but it had no power steering; you turned the vehicle on muscle power. It had halogen headlights that were yellowed and barely lit the road. It was the pinnacle of 1980’s imported vehicles, but compared to today, it was a piece of metal burning gas.
Last summer, and I probably wrote about this already, I purchased a 2021 Toyota hatchback as our household’s second vehicle. It was like coming full circle for me, since a Toyota hatchback had been my first vehicle. There’s still no tape deck. In fact, there’s no deck at all; music is played through Bluetooth on my phone. Amazingly, the vehicle has sensors that warns me if a vehicle is coming up alongside me and slowly steers me back if I start veering across median lines on the road. It’s pretty neat, albeit a bit concerning that my vehicle would have this sort of control while I’m driving.
Despite all the functions, my archaic ass has adjusted other them quite well and I enjoy driving the car. I never realized just how many features were involved until the road trip I was on, last week. Typically when I travel to Saskatoon for my eye injections or something, we’re looking at about two and half to three hours’ of travel time (I sometimes do it in less but I have friends who are still cops, so imma keep that shit to myself). I usually make a point of stopping once during that transit, either for coffee or to accommodate my Diabetic bladder.
On this particular trip, I was travelling from a city much farther north than I’m used to. As I was travelling alone and had skipped breakfast, I had no need of a washroom and I had filled my gas tank along the way. At roughly the 3-hour mark of traveling without stopping, I start hearing a beeping sound. It was unfamiliar but I assumed it was something on my insulin pump. Like a stubborn goon, I didn’t want to stop just to press a button so I tried to shimmy the pump out of my pocket (I was wearing jeans) without stopping or removing my seatbelt. Not my brightest moment but I managed it. In checking my pump, everything was clear and the alert wasn’t coming from the pump. I turned off the music right at the moment the chime went off again and realized that it was coming from the dash of the vehicle…
Apparently, I had been driving just long enough without stopping that my car decided to check up on me. I had never seen this happen before. I got a chuckle out of it, so I grabbed a quick snapshot. I guess in a world where “smart cars” are a thing, I should be overly surprised. But it’s nice to know that my car will give me a reminder if I’m behind the wheel too long. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 